There lived a lion and a lioness in a forest. They had two cubs.
The lion, in spite of being the king of the forest, was sociable. Whereas the lioness, the queen of the forest, was arrogant.
The lioness would roam across the forest haughtily and talk in arrogant manner.
One day, the lioness was sitting under a tree. Her cubs were playing near by. Soon the lioness fell asleep.
When the lioness woke up, the cubs were not there. She looked for them here and there but all in vain.
The lioness asked the monkeys, “Have you seen my cubs?” The monkeys replied, “No, queen. We have not
seen them.”
The lioness asked the other animals the same question. A bear retorted, “We have no idea. You had told your cubs to keep away from low creatures like us.”
The lioness began to weep. She realised that all the creatures were angry with her due to her arrogant behaviour. So, none of them wanted to help her.
The bear stated, “Don’t weep. You thought us to be lowly. So, we all didn’t like it. Now, give up your arrogance. Let’s search for your cubs.”
All the creatures set out to look for the cubs in the forest. Soon they spotted the cubs. The cubs were playing with a tortoise near a river.
Finding her cubs back the lioness was elated. She begged forgiveness of all the creatures for her rude behaviour.
The lazy brahmin
There lived a Brahmin in a village. He had his wife and two children. But the Brahmin was very lazy.
The Brahmin would sleep late in the morning. His wife would come and say, “Wake up, O dear. Go to the fields.”
The Brahmin after listening to the words of his wife would change side and sleep again. His wife felt sad due to the laziness of the Brahmin.
One day, a sage came over to the Brahmin’s house. The Brahmin received the sage with great humility.
Thereafter, the Brahmin and his wife served the sage delicious food.
The sage felt extremely happy and asked them to demand a boon. The Brahmin stated, “O Great Soul,
give me a person who can do all my work.”
The sage smiled a bit and replied, “So be it! But always keep him busy; otherwise, he will harm you.”
OK, O Sage!” the Brahmin assured. Thereupon, the sage began to recite some mantra after closing his eyes.
In the twinkling of an eye, a demon appeared there and said, “O Revered Sage, what is your order?” ‘The sage replied, “From today onwards you have to serve this Brahmin.” The demon nodded.
The Brahmin ordered,“Go and irrigate the fields.” The demon went and came back after some time and replied, “The work is completed. Tell me the next piece of work. Otherwise, I will devour you.”
The Brahmin felt surprised as to how the demon had irrigated the fields so quickly. He could not think of another piece of work. He got alarmed and said to the sage, “O Respected Sage, please protect me.”
Thereupon, the sage recited the mantra again and the demon disappeared. Now, the sage preached to the Brahmin, “Laziness causes a man to get surrounded by various difficulties.” The Brahmin realised his mistake and gave up laziness for ever.
Moral : Laziness makes one suffer, sooner or later.
